KFTC chapters have a collective goal of registering 575 voters for the primary and there's still time to help out or get yourself registered!

The voter registration deadline for the May 21 Primary Election is less than week from now on Monday, April 22. On this year's ballot is the Governor's election and elections for 5 other statewide offices - Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, and Agricultural Commissioner.

If you want to check your voter registration status just to be safe, or to register online start by visiting KFTC's own www.KentuckyElection.org

Note that students who are away from home going to school have the right to either use a permanent home address or temporary local address as their voting address. If you're a student, consider being registered where you'll actually be living on May 21.

The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) held the last of three hearings on Monday, April 8, to gather public input on its latest proposal to change its mandate to monitor and enforce clean water standards on the river. The previous two had been in Pittsburgh on April 1, and Evansville, IN on April 4.

Monitoring would continue under the new proposal, but states could decide whether or not to adopt or enforce the standards. This opened a new front in the fight to protect water in the Ohio River that provides drinking water for more than five million people. Over 75 people gathered at the meeting in Erlanger to voice opposition to the organization’s proposal. KFTC members attended the public hearing along with a broad coalition of individuals, environmental, social justice, religious, public health and civic groups.

A Congressional subcommittee on April 9 heard testimony on ways to help Appalachian communities recover from more than a century of coal mining as they build a new and more diverse economy.

“We can build a bright future,” Carl Shoupe told committee members.

Shoupe, a third generation coal miner from Harlan County, described how residents in the small towns of Benham and Lynch planned and built for their future by creating the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum, the School House Inn and an underground mine tour.

“Our mountains are mostly intact and covered by some of the most diverse hardwood forests in North America. Our communities have developed some excellent tourist attractions,” Shoupe said. “But all of that is now at risk. Destruction is knocking on our door.”

For more than a year, KFTC has worked with allies to protect the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission’s (ORSANCO) mission to clean and protect the Ohio River through monitoring and enforcement. This commission, made up of representatives of the federal government and 8 members states (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois) of ORSANCO maintains pollution control standards that are higher than the EPA or state enforcement agencies.

While these standards have not solved the Ohio River’s pollution issues, it has made considerable progress since the founding in 1948. Yet some political appointees in ORSANCO want to make these essential standards optional for states to enforce, giving states the ability to ignore damage to our water systems that disproportionately impacts lower income people and people of color across the region.

The voter registration deadline for the May 21 Primary Election is Monday, April 22. On this year's ballot is the Governor's election and elections for 5 other statewide offices - Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, and Agricultural Commissioner.

If you're not registered, or need to update your voter address, get down to your local County Clerk's office or register online.

If you want to check your voter registration status just to be safe, or to register online start by visiting KFTC's own www.KentuckyElection.org

Note that students who are away from home going to school have the right to either use a permanent home address or temporary local address as their voting address. If you're a student, consider being registered where you'll actually be living on May 21.